Frank Gehry, Wiggle Side Chair (1972)

The Wiggle Side Chair is part of Frank Gehry’s furniture series ‘Easy Edges’ from 1972,  with which he succeeded in bringing a new aesthetic dimension to an everyday material – cardboard. Cardboard is usually considered as cheap and shabby stuff, mostly used for packaging. Gehry transformed it in a modern and nice-looking material, which gives the object firmness and durability, but at the same time also softness and patina.

In 1969 Gehry was asked to give the artist Robert Irwin’s studio a quick makeover. Being limited with a budget, he came up with something simple yet subtly futuristic: seating made from cardboard that he kept in the studio for making models. With alternating the direction of layers he discovered that the finished board had enough strength and a uniform, velvety texture on all four sides. Wiggle Side Chairs are still being produced (by Vitra) and make, using recyclable material, almost 30 years old model how to be sustainable and modern at the same time.

Author: Martina Malešič

Photo: Vitra

https://www.vitra.com/en-au/product/wiggle